SAN JOSE, Calif. — Parked in front of their TV screens Sunday, the San Jose Sharks won their second consecutive Western Conference regular-season title and learned they will face the upstart Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs that begin Wednesday at HP Pavilion.

In drawing the eighth-seeded Avalanche, the Sharks get one of this season’s surprise teams in the NHL.

“They’ve been the underdog team, they’ve fought through everything and I’m sure they’ll be using that as a rallying point,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “We expect them to play with the energy and the passion they’ve had from Day One.”

The Sharks finished their season Saturday night with the playoff picture so cloudy that they could have faced any one of four teams.

Both games that determined San Jose’s fate went into overtime as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 only a few minutes after the Los Angeles Kings edged Colorado 2-1.

“It was an exciting day for us to watch hockey,” McLellan said. “They were good games and there was obviously no pressure on us, so we sat back and enjoyed them. As events happened, we had a checklist and we knocked one team out and another team out and eventually it was Colorado.”

This will be the fourth playoff series between the teams. The Sharks lost the first two in 1999 and 2002, but eliminated the Avs in six games to advance to the 2004 Western Conference finals.

Those teams were stocked with veterans such as Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy as well as current Sharks captain Rob Blake.

And Blake credits the Avalanche’s current veterans for keeping the team’s youth corps on track.

“Especially Adam Foote,” Blake said, referring to Colorado’s 38-year-old defenseman. “There’s a guy I played with for many years. He’s won two Stanley Cups and knows how to guide young players.”

McLellan thought the fact the teams had faced each other only a week ago — the Avs won 5-4 in OT last Sunday — would be helpful to both.

“We got a real good reminder of how hard they work, how quick they are,” McLellan said. “They’re a very disciplined team. I’m sure it will help us and it’ll help them as well at least as far as preparation goes.”

One decision McLellan must make before the playoffs start is whether to keep Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley on the same line. Sunday, McLellan wasn’t tipping his hand.

The Sharks had Sunday off, but McLellan recognized that their No. 1 seed in the West was the reward for bearing down during an 8-1-1 run over the final 10 games of the season.

“But quite frankly,” he said, “all that means is we get a banner probably. Other than that, we have to play a very good team in the playoffs. . . . All we did was qualify for the tournament, and we have an opportunity ahead of us.”

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